How to find respite workers (in Utah) for DSPD/MCCW if using SAS

First let's go over a few definitions:

DSPD:  Division of Services for People with Disabilities.  Also known as the "waiting list".  This is a Medicaid Waiver that allows people with disabilities to qualify for Medicaid based on their disability rather than their income or their parents income.  It also provides for other services such as massage therapy, homemaking and respite.  It is state money matched by federal money.  It is called the waiting list because there are thousands of people that qualify to get on, but there is not enough money approved from the state legislature to fund everyone.

MCCW:  Medically Complex Children's Waiver.  This is a Medicaid Waiver that allows children with disabilities to qualify for Medicaid based on their disability rather than their parents income.  It also provides for very limited respite (ie: 13 hours per month).  To qualify the child needs to have at least 3 organs involved in their diagnosis and see at least 3 specialists.  Applications are usually due in May of each year.

SAS:  Self-Administered Services.  When you qualify for respite through DSPD or MCCW you can choose to have respite workers sent from a company or you can hire the employees yourself.  If you hire the employees yourself then you are doing SAS.  The reasons you would want to use a company would be, you wouldn't need to do hiring/firing/paperwork/approving hours/etc.  Plus if an employee called in sick there is a chance they could send an alternate employee to cover.  The reasons you would want to do SAS are that you have greater control over hiring/firing.  You have greater control over training your employees.  Also, most companies don't have employees that will do more complex medical things such as g-tubes, suctioning, etc.  So your only option is to hire them yourself and train them yourself through SAS.

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Now onto how I find people (in Utah) to do respite for me.

I have used several options in the past such as a flyer at the LDS Institute Building, posting on Facebook and asking friends to share, asking local CNA and Nursing programs (Colleges and Tech schools) to send it out to their current and former students.  These options provided little results.

I also looked into Care.com and KSL classifieds online, but these both cost money, so I never did these options.

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The option that I have been most successful with is a free listing through Indeed.com

First you sign up as an employer.  Then create a job listing.

My job listing was first denied because they have automatic search engines that look for your company address, phone, webpage, etc.  Because it couldn't find anything I got rejected.

On the rejection email it listed a contact person.  I called or emailed them and explained my situation.  He said to list it as the "___________(fill in your last name) Family"  as the company name.  For example the "Smith Family".

Then it had to go through another verification check.

After emailing back and forth several times with my Indeed Contact everything was approved.  I have not had any problems since.  I can just log in and make my new job postings.

So yes, it was kind of a pain the first time, but after that it has not been a problem.

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I usually do 2 or 3 postings.  

#1) Advertising for a CNA or nursing student (sometimes I do these separately)

#2) Advertising for a Caregiver (Most people don't know what a respite worker is)

#3) Advertising for housekeeping

The CNA and Caregiver are both for the respite worker position.  I just get more responses by listing it twice to different demographics of people.  CNA's are nice because they know basic things like bathing, diapering, changing bedding, putting on gloves, etc.  But I can train people to do all of those things anyway and I like having a larger pool of people to choose from.  To be honest 90% of my hires are CNA's or have been CNA's.  But I have trained multiple people from scratch also.

The housekeeping only position will get a TON of responses...waaaaayyyyy more than CNA or respite.  I only do this around October if I have extra hours that I see I won't be able to use up by the end of my fiscal year. Then I hire someone to come in and do housekeeping as a temporary job for a few months until the end of January when my budget resets.  It is nice to have extra housekeeping help for the holidays and it is much easier to find housekeeping help quickly rather than respite workers that have to be trained etc...  During that time that I am using hours with a temporary housekeeper I am also looking for a permanent respite worker to fill more hours.

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I have very strict behavior/dress and grooming standards/household rules.  I make sure to set those forth in the ad itself and reiterate them at every step of the interview process.  This eliminates people who wouldn't be a good fit for me and my family (the prospective employees eliminate themselves if they don't fit the household rules).

I must admit I get some blowback on my standards.  There will always be someone who will message me and say that they are a good person even if they have a tongue piercing.  And I agree, I'm sure they are a good person, I never said they weren't.  But is is my house and they become an example to my kids and so I have decided that the employees need to follow our house dress and grooming rules.

You obviously don't have to have the same standards as me, but if you have specific household or dress and grooming standards that you would like your employees to follow, I would make sure to list them on the Indeed listing and reiterate them throughout the interview process.

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Here is an example of my CNA or Nursing Student posting.  The Caregiver job looks exactly the same except the job title says "Caregiver to a 17 YO girl in her home" and it does not ask if they are a CNA under qualifications.

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When you get to the end of creating your job posting, make sure you select that you just want the free version.  I have never paid and I have gotten plenty of responses.

I have a different email set up for people to email through indeed (I didn't want my real email posted on Indeed).  

After I get the email from indeed saying they have applied for the job, I click on their resume (through indeed) and that gives me their phone number.  I text them and remind them what the job is and ask if they would like a phone interview.

We do a phone interview and then if I like them,  then we do in person interview.

I have found text to be WAAAAAYYYYY more effective than email in finding employees.

After that I decide who to hire, then they do all of the paperwork.

I used to require an application and letters of recommendation before doing any interviews, but this new way of doing 2 interviews first has proven to yield many more applicants that follow through with the interview process.

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Have you tried using Indeed to find respite workers?  How has it worked for you?  Do you have any other tips and tricks to find respite workers?  Please comment below. 

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